August 25th, 2552, 16:46
Planet Reach
4 days Post-Winter Contingency
168 hours until fall of Reach
Bullets whizzed past me in my dazed state. Roars and cries of pain rang out, echoing in my head. Brothers fell around me. Well, they were my brothers. But not anymore, not after what I was about to do next. I surrendered. I tossed my now overheating rifle to the dirt, and fell to my knees, hands above my head in submission. That surprised them, to say the least. They kept their rifles up, pointed at my head. Yet I persisted. Slowly, calmly, I took my helmet off, and ripped out the communications device, and crushed it in my palm before them. I tore out a tracking chip in my gauntlet. I snapped the hilt of my Energy Sword in front of me. This continued for an hour, me calmly tearing apart any dangerous or trackable equipment before them, showing I meant no harm.
They were impressed, to say the least. Because for one of my kind to surrender to a lesser is seen as worse than death itself. They lowered their weapons, and I stood, slowly. Then, to my surprise, they introduced themselves. Three humans, Marines, from what I remembered about them. Ruiz, a small, stout, short and darkskinned, middle-aged man. Caring eyes, but a sneer that worried me. He had a strong accent, a Spanish one, I believe. The other two then began to tell me that they were twins. I tilted my head curiously, and they introduced themselves as Valda and Gabriel Torenski. They were almost exact copies of one another, aside from their genders. Dark gray eyes, blonde hair. Valda had her hair in a loose ponytail.
"And what about you, split-lip?" they chimed together, in perfect unison. Gods, they were too young to be on the battlefield. And so I explained.
"I'm afraid there's not too much I can say about myself. My name is Kedero Madum'ee. Former Elite Ultra of the Covenant. Crino Squad. I just want a new start...I want to join you, as...Absurd as that may sound. But the Covenant... Those heathens, they give me nothing.. Nothing worth fighting for but a pat on the back and a promise of a religion that I don't even think will ring true when the time comes. But, you.. You humans, you're backed into the corner, on your last breath, yet you fight like nothing I've ever seen. It's...Valiant, almost. You don't want to conquer, you just want to survive, to make do with what you have. It's.. Amazing, really."
The twins' jaws dropped, and Ruiz's eyes were wide. Again, they were impressed. I always had a flair with words. "Now, could you take me to your commanding officer?", I asked, and they nodded their heads after looking to each-other for a few seconds. And so, it began. A new life for me.
A new world.
A new war.
And I was not ready for it. Not at all.
